Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 700 Extra: Zhu Yiba's Past (Part Two)

In this remote and isolated border station, we really need someone like Xiao Pang who can liven things up. He can joke around with you today and play around with you tomorrow, which makes life a little more interesting and helps time pass faster.

Zhu Yiba looked at the cigarette in his hand, somewhat amused and exasperated: "Squad leader, what are you doing?"

"Hey, platoon leader, stop calling me squad leader like those young guys. If you still respect me, just call me Lao Wang! Our relationship is something that only exists between the best of the best."

The squad leader waved his hand, feeling that the newly appointed platoon leader, who was a graduate of military academy, was too long-winded. If he didn't know that the other party came from the hellish special operations platoon, he might have had to compete with him. How could he have put down his airs and become sworn brothers with him so quickly?

"Squad leader, smoking is not allowed on the shooting range. This is a one-time exception." Zhu Yiba shrugged, still insisting on addressing him as squad leader. After all, the other party was older and a veteran of the third term, so he should be respected in his address.

The squad leader was taken aback; it turned out that the platoon leader had been staring at the cigarette all along.

"Reporting, Platoon Leader, there are more than a dozen under the Squad Leader's bed!" The chubby soldier quickly assembled the QBZ, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and stood imposingly under the tree, still not forgetting to complain to his superior.

"You fatso, get lost! I'll kill you when I get home tonight!" The squad leader threw the water bottle he was holding at him.

Despite his large build and the red badge on his shoulder, this chubby soldier was surprisingly agile. With a quick twist of his toes, half of his body turned around, and the water bottle didn't even touch a hair on his head.

With a few thuds, the chubby soldier rolled over on the grass, leaving a lot of fine grass bits stuck to the brand-new bottle.

Zhu Yiba was amused by the two bickering, and deliberately added a spoonful of oil to the noisy mess, saying, "Huh? Under the bed? When I checked the cleanliness this morning, there was nothing under there, it was empty."

The chubby soldier, who had already run far away, was laughing while clutching his stomach. Then he straightened up and said, "Bed baseboard! Platoon leader, the cigarettes were all stuck under the bed baseboard by the squad leader with transparent tape."

"You fatso! I must have owed you something in my past life!" The squad leader couldn't take it anymore and pointed at the fat soldier, cursing him.

The fat soldier laughed so hard he couldn't stand up straight: "Who told you to make me eat the crusts of steamed buns before!"

Zhu Yiba asked, "What steamed bun skin?"

The squad leader said helplessly, "When Xiao Pang first came here, he peeled off the skin of his steamed buns before eating them in the canteen. The stationmaster saw this and said it was a waste of food. The stationmaster told me to teach him a lesson."

Zhu Yiba asked curiously, "How are you going to teach him a lesson?"

The squad leader touched his nose, a little embarrassed: "I...I just...I used a strainer to scoop out the bread crusts he threw away from the swill bucket at night and made him eat them all."

Thinking back on it now, even the squad leader couldn't help but get goosebumps.

But the new platoon leader in front of him just smiled calmly, without the surprise the squad leader had expected.

The squad leader, puzzled, couldn't help but ask, "Platoon leader, you...you didn't feel anything?"

Recalling the grueling training week when he was forced by Wolf Head to eat the leftover food that his comrades had vomited up, Zhu Yiba didn't think there was anything wrong with the squad leader's actions.

In wartime, in the wilderness, having something to eat is a blessing. It's not that we have to be as meticulous as they are, but wasting food in the mess hall certainly requires a memorable lesson.

After the break, the three returned to the shooting range to begin training.

The squad leader stood beside Little Fatty, solemnly and attentively instructing him on shooting techniques. His eyes were serious and focused, his voice steady and powerful, and his thick lips slowly conveyed his many years of shooting skills and experience. Little Fatty, his earlier teasing expression gone, stared wide-eyed, listening intently to the squad leader's explanation. His chubby hands gripped the gun handle tightly; although his movements were somewhat stiff and deliberate, they were full of effort and seriousness.

Zhu Yiba, who was observing from the side, glanced at the warm sunshine overhead and suddenly felt a sense of enjoyment for this moment of peace. This kind of leisure time in the rear troops was something he could never have imagined when he was in the special operations platoon.

For a fleeting moment, he questioned whether he had let his guard down.

Time flew by, and an hour of target practice ended. With the squad leader's shout of "Dismissed!", Little Fatty transformed back into that quirky little fellow.

Carrying a QBZ, he jogged quickly to Zhu Yiba's side: "Platoon leader, I heard there's a guy in your special operations platoon who's really good at PUBG! Can you tell me about him?"

"To be honest, our platoon is really good at playing PUBG." Zhu Yiba didn't want to be too serious when talking to the soldiers after their morning exercises, and laughed, "It's normal for each of us to finish a chicken dinner after a mission."

"Haha! Platoon leader, I meant the PUBG game!" The fat man had barely finished speaking when he suddenly realized what he meant and made a face like he'd just eaten shit.

"Oh, you mean mobile games?" Zhu Yiba teased, "The special operations platoon usually keeps all their phones to the instructor. Squad leader, now that training is over, shouldn't we be getting our phones back?"

The squad leader glared at the chubby boy, then turned to Zhu Yiba and said sternly, "Platoon leader, the new comrades' ideological awareness is not high enough yet. I suggest increasing the intensity of daily training, increasing the number of night training sessions, and striving to reduce the time when mobile phones are distributed, so that the comrades can focus wholeheartedly on protecting the security of the motherland's borders!"

Little Fatty looks like he's about to cry.

"Ha ha!"

Zhu Yiba and the class monitor exchanged a glance and both laughed.

At this moment, a small, thin soldier ran over and started calling out "Squad Leader! Squad Leader!" from a distance.

The squad leader glanced guiltily at the platoon leader who was sitting on the side laughing, and when the young soldier ran up to him, he jumped up and gave him a sharp rap on the head.

"Squad leader! What kind of look is that? Can't you see the platoon leader sitting here?"

The young soldier, rubbing his throbbing head, turned to Zhu Yiba, who was seated, and said aggrievedly, "Let's arrange seating."

"Seating arrangement?" The squad leader jumped up and gave him another flick on the forehead, yelling, "Yellow Hair, use your pig brain to think! What, if we sit together, are we supposed to shout 'seating arrangement'?"

Zhu Yiba finally couldn't hold back and burst into laughter.

These days are much more comfortable than the oppressive work of the special operations platoon, which involves being out on field missions every day.

Because photos of his school days were found on his QQ space, in which his hair was dyed a bright orange, making him look like a non-mainstream person, and because he had just enlisted and was the youngest soldier in his class, he was given the nickname "Yellow-haired Kid," or simply "Yellow Hair."

Huang Mao stood at attention and reported: "Platoon leader, squad leader, the station chief wants you to go to the meeting room."

The two exchanged a glance, composed themselves, quickly stood up, tossed the rifle to the blond-haired man, and ran towards the conference room.

(End of this chapter)